Improvement in ironing-boards



L L E R R 0 M B S ironing-Board.

Patented Jan. 26,1875.

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Ironing-Board.

Patented Jan UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

SIDNEY B. MOBRELL, OF RACINE, WISCONSIN.

IMPROVEMENT IN iRONlNG-BOARDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 159,111, dated January 26, 1875; application filed August 20, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIDNEY B. MoRRELL, of the city and county of Racine and State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ironing-Boards; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which Figure l is a top view, and Fig. 2 a side elevation. In the latter view the stretching and clamping strip is shown in two positions.

The nature of my invention consists in the combination, with an ironing-board having a clamping strip, of hinged spring brackets made in serpentine form, or with bows or corrugations, which are in a vertical plane, so as to permit the brackets to extend in a longitudinal direction when the clamping-strip is brought down against the fabric to be ironed upon the board. Brackets thus constructed and applied are quite rigid when not strained longitudinally or in a direct line, and they are therefore capable of sustaining the clampingstrip in a raised position. They are very cheaply made, and yet are durable; and when applied they permit the stretching and clamping strip to be raised for the passage of a portion of the garment between the edge of the ironing-board and the clamping-edge of the strip; and the brackets, when forced down, will, as soon as subjected to strain, extend themselves, and thereby permit the beveled face of the strip to glide downward and outward over the portion of the fabric which is between the beveled clamping-faces of the board and strip, and on the completion of its movement bind upon the fabric with a clamping hold without having crowded it out of place by the descent of the strip.

A represents an ironing-board; B, the neck or shoulder bow; and O the clamping-strip thereof. The front end of the board A is rounded off at the corners, and its rear end is beveled at B The clamping-strip O is beveled on its front edge, as at B The shoulder-bow is in form of a semicircle, and is of a less diameter than the width of the board, as shown, so as to have stop-shoulders A A formed between the legs and the edges of the board. D D are hinged brackets for connecting the strip 0 to the board A. These brackets are serpentine springs, made out of wire bent in a vertical plane, so as to form eyes a and spring bows or corrugations b, as shown. Screws are passed through the eyes a a for the purpose of fastening the brackets in position. The screws a form pivot or hinge joints for the strip (1 to turn upon in order to adjust it from the position shown in black lines to the position shown in dotted lines. The bows or corrugations of the brackets form springs between the board A and the strip 0, and allow the strip 0 to move back away from the board A when the fabric to be ironed offers a resistance to it at a point between the bevel faces of the board and strip. The springs serve to give the strip the requisite bind upon the fabric during the ironing operation.

When the shirt-front or any similar garment is to be stretched and ironed, the neckband is ironed first, and buttoned. The garment is then slipped over the board, bosom upward, until the neck-band rests at A A. The stretcher 0 having been raised just enough to admit the thumb of the hand under it, the fabric is forced through and spread out until it touches the hinged brackets, when the stretcher is forced down and made to carry the fabric across a square corner at the bottom of the stretcher and at the top of the board, thereby looking it firmly. This done, the ironing operation is proceeded with until finished, when the stretcher is raised and the garment removed.

I am aware that Bassett shows in his patent a stretching or clamping strip in connection with an ironing-board, and that said strip is shown connected to the board by rods. I also am aware that it has been proposed to substitute some sort of springs for the rods; therefore, I do not claim, broadly, a stretching-strip connected to an ironing-board by rods or springs; but

What I claim as new is The serpentine hinged spring-brackets, as described, in combination with the board A and the stretching and clamping strip 0, substantially as and for the purpose described.

SIDNEY B. MORRELL.

Witnesses:

HENRY A. CRAWFORD, BENJAMIN W. HALL. 

